To hasten the growth and development of the ApeCoin ecosystem, Polygon Labs suggests that ApeCoin DAO build and maintain its own zero-knowledge powered Layer-2 (“zk-L2”) using the Polygon Chain Development Kit (“CDK”).

A dedicated ApeCoin zk-L2 chain (the “ApeChain”) would be created and maintained by an implementation partner who creates Web3 infrastructure and tooling products (the “Implementation Partner”); ecosystem cooperation with Polygon Labs; and a development fund from the ApeCoin DAO treasury to encourage the growth of ApeCoin-integrated projects (experiences, entertainment, games, and consumer applications) and ApeChain-related public goods ( The planned development fund’s specifics are not covered by this AIP but are included in a later AIP with the title “AIP.” Lead for ApeCoin’s DAO and ecosystem development programs.

[Apecoin Proposal by Polygon]

ApeCoin proposal by @sandeepnailwal, co-founder of @0xPolygonLabs: ApeChain L2.

– Costs: Affordable at $200k/year for deployment & maintenance.
– Revenue: Earn through gas and validator fees, paid in $APE.
– Benefits: Experience scalability, low… pic.twitter.com/lDA67aghXn

— Harry Liu @ Forj (@harry_forj) October 10, 2023

APECOIN ECOSYSTEM BENEFIT:

Since Yuga Labs 11 posted these same words nearly 18 months ago, the ApeCoin community has been aware that ApeCoin “will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale.” Yuga Labs continued by saying that they “encouraged the [ApeCoin] DAO to start thinking in this direction.” Although the ApeCoin DAO voted in favor of AIP-41 4 to retain ApeCoin a part of the Ethereum ecosystem, the issue of an ApeCoin-specific chain is still up for debate and has not yet been resolved.
This is where the AIP comes into play: to suggest an exclusive ApeChain, utilizing Polygon CDK 3, an open source toolkit that developers can utilize to smoothly launch their own zk-powered L2 on Ethereum constructed and maintained by an Implementation Partner with a focus on modularity.

As explained below under “Platforms and Technologies,” such ApeChain will provide ApeCoin DAO and its users with possible increased fees and staking rewards for network validators while resolving the aforementioned scalability issue. To put it another way, this chain will offer dedicated, ultra-premium, and affordable blockspace for ApeCoin DAO-affiliated and/or -incubated experiences, entertainment, games, and consumer applications. This will ultimately attract more users to the ApeCoin ecosystem as well as more activity and the creation of all types of value (content, assets, data, and the like).

Already, Polygon CDK has enjoyed widespread usage. Immutable zkEVM, Gnosis Pay, Capx, Palm Network, Astar zkEVM, and Canto are a few of the chains being created with Polygon CDK. This is due to Polygon CDK’s ability to scale Ethereum with the most flexibility, while remaining as secure and decentralized as possible.

As stated in mission 2 of ApeCoin DAO, its goal is to “empower a decentralized community building at the forefront of web3.” ApeCoin DAO will create and promote “a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that advance culture into the metaverse” through the use of $APE.

To assist in achieving this goal, ApeChain will offer the ApeCoin DAO an effective, secure, and decentralized execution environment on which ApeCoin DAO projects can be developed. The ApeCoin ecosystem will be set up for tremendous growth as a result of ApeCoin DAO becoming composable and interoperable with the entire modular suite of Polygon solutions (including Polygon PoS, which will soon be upgraded to a zkEVM Validium 2, Polygon zkEVM, Polygon Miden, and various customizable L2 permutations using the CDK, collectively “Polygon Architecture”).

The Polygon Architecture is by far the most reliable and stable Ethereum L2 scaling solution, with thousands of dApps and millions of daily transactions. All dApps can utilize ApeCoin because it has already been linked upon Polygon PoS spanning Polygon Architecture, especially for dApps built on the proposed ApeChain’s gas and staking (see “Platforms and Technologies” below).

The widespread use of Web3 and blockchain technology is well-documented 2, and the Polygon Architecture is assisting in bringing blockchain to “Internet-scale.” This applies to all industries and use cases, including gaming (Square Enix), loyalty programs (Starbucks), physical goods and co-creation (Nike), virtual characters (Reddit), self-expression and identity (L’Oreal), and the most widely used Web3-native use cases (ranging from defi, like Uniswap and Aave, to the open metaverse, like Sandbox and Decentraland). For ApeCoin DAO to undertake “community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse” and to use an associated development fund, the Polygon Architecture is the best ecosystem to promote the expansion of initiatives that combine ApeCoin and ApeChain and public goods associated with those platforms.

TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS:

Background and Alignment of Ethereum in zk. The pinnacle of decentralized, permissionless technology is Ethereum. Ethereum’s future depends on implementing the best technology to scale securely and without friction, with L2 and rollups on the roadmap Years have been spent by Polygon Labs’ core developers developing zk technology to be as similar to Ethereum as feasible. L2 chains deployed using Polygon CDK now experience lower fees and faster finality times across use cases thanks to innovations like the Plonky2 zk proving system, all while inheriting the decentralization, security, and ready-to-use tooling and smart contracts that make Ethereum the best programmable blockchain.

Value Statements.

• Security. Through zk validity proofs, every L2 chain implemented using Polygon CDK inherits all of Ethereum’s security.
• All transactions is demonstrated on Ethereum L1 with a mathematically verifiable proof in a rapid method that doesn’t require any human intervention or economic incentives.
• Low costs. For zk-powered L2s operating in validium mode (recommended), Polygon CDK not only provides an off-chain data availability solution, but joining a shared zk bridge would also result in fees that are orders of magnitude lower because proof verification on L1 is amortized over all chains.
• Collective Liquidity. Access to deep liquidity is among the main benefits of becoming an Ethereum L2. Users and developers will be able to transact or move across chains without any issues as a result. The greater the liquidity pool, the greater the opportunity for consumers and developers to capitalize on and generate value throughout all cases
• Interoperability and customization. L2 customisation is possible right out of the box with Polygon CDK. Decentralized sequencers that use ApeChain validators, highly customizable data availability solutions, and customization for block finality and the amount of time it takes to submit zk proofs of the chain state to Ethereum are all possible ways to use ApeChain.

All other Polygon CDK chains would be inherently compatible with ApeChain. This entails expanding access to a larger portion of the Ethereum blockspace, all of which are linked by a common zk bridge that will enable almost instant cross-chain activity and access to shared liquidity. The outcome will be a network of zk-L2s that, according to a revolutionary zk interoperability layer 2 that is now being developed, feel like a single chain because of how seamlessly integrated they are Withdrawals almost instantly and quick finality.

Zk proofs from Polygon CDK provide the Interoperability and customization. L2 customisation is possible right out of the box with Polygon CDK. Decentralized sequencers that use ApeChain validators, highly customizable data availability solutions, and customization for block finality and the amount of time it takes to submit zk proofs of the chain state to Ethereum are all possible ways to use ApeChain.

All other Polygon CDK chains would be inherently compatible with ApeChain. This entails expanding access to a larger portion of the Ethereum blockspace, all of which are linked by a common zk bridge that will enable almost instant cross-chain activity and access to shared liquidity. The outcome will be a network of zk-L2s that, according to a revolutionary zk interoperability layer 2 that is now being developed, feel like a single chain because of how seamlessly integrated they are.
Withdrawals almost instantly and quick finality.

Zk proofs from Polygon CDK provide the quickest rollup design for deterministic finality. The length of time it takes a user to withdraw money from the L1 is known as deterministic finality. As opposed to transaction finality, which occurs when a user notices that their balance has changed, this is different. Reaching deterministic finality with optimistic rollups necessitates waiting the seven-day challenge window. The deterministic finality of other zk rollups that are now active on Ethereum requires at least 21 hours.

Today’s Polygon CDK technology is orders of magnitude quicker; future prover optimizations are anticipated to further speed this up. This rapid transition to deterministic finality is a testament to the technical merits of ZK proofs in general and the reliability of Polygon proving technology in particular.

Considerations for the architecture and the implementation partner. With the help of Polygon’s technical assistance and ApeCoin DAO’s capacity to handpick an Implementation Partner who will receive funding from the latter’s treasury to create and manage ApeChain.

The Implementation Partner shall architect ApeChain keeping the following in mind, with technical assistance as needed from Polygon Labs.

• Gas and validator fees may be paid and collected in APE dollars. Any such fees (including those produced by the sequencer) under a centralized setup shall solely accrue to ApeCoin DAO. Any such fees shall instead be paid to ApeChain validators if and when the network transitions to a decentralized sequencer.
• Validium: Data will be kept off-chain on a reliable data availability platform to reduce costs as much as feasible while retaining security and decentralization responsible for maintaining and keeping transaction data stored.
• Interoperability: To preserve native interoperability with all other Polygon CDK chains, ApeChain shall be integrated with the aforementioned shared zk bridge. This will retain composability as high as feasible and allow as much access to liquidity across the expanded Polygon Architecture.
• Development and support of ecosystems. ApeCoin DAO and Polygon Labs will work together on this project to construct the ecosystem, which will include advancing and supporting additional collaborations with games, consumer brands, entertainment IP, Web2 platforms, middleware, marketplaces, SaaS, and necessary infrastructure, some of which may already be building or have built on, in order to ensure widespread knowledge of and promotion of ApeChain, supported by the world-class Polygon Labs BD team.

A designated Partner Success Manager inside Polygon Labs to operate as a liaison between ApeCoin DAO and the Polygon Labs ecosystem, as well as promoting the development of ApeChain to the active Web3 users who make up Polygon Labs’ global audience through social media or other methods.
 

• IMPLEMENTATION The procedures to carry out the idea, along with any related expenses, labor requirements, and other resources.
• Discussion to identify the parameters of technical cooperation and ecosystem development.

Determine the optimum network development based on the ApeCoin DAO’s feedback on the aforementioned “Implementation Partner and Architecture Considerations,” which include validator selection, gas and validator fees, and data accessibility. Block time, block size, and front end business logic (if any) are examples of additional strategic concerns, but they are not restricted to them.

Scope: Working with an Implementation Partner for ApeCoin

DAO on choosing integration route, including bridge, interoperability, etc.
Integration: Development and deployment by the implementation partner.
Promotion: Polygon Labs will collaborate with ApeCoin DAO to develop a thoughtful and effective strategy.
Results: The ApeCoin DAO has its own sovereign L2 network, is entirely EVM-equivalent, has no “noisy neighbor” issues, has no mainnet congestion, and shares liquidity with the entire Polygon ecosystem of dApps and protocols.
Growth: The business development team at Polygon Labs will collaborate with the ApeCoin DAO to create a growth strategy for planning and implementing an ApeChain development fund.
TIMELINE: Important timing information, such as the start date, major accomplishment dates, and the date of completion.

Four weeks of alignment
Plan: four weeks
Scope: four weeks
2 to 4 weeks for integration
Promotion: during launch, during scoping and integration and continuing outcomes Ongoing Immediate Growth TOTAL COST: We project that the expenses for developing, deploying, and maintaining ApeChain will come from ApeCoin DAO and are described in the preceding sections of this AIP Idea.

CLOSING:

We think the ApeCoin DAO is poised to usher in a brand-new and exciting era. ApeCoin DAO will continue to carry out its objectives by deploying ApeChain using Polygon CDK, including growing into a “decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse.”